Janelle Stoops on Frontier Mission and Leadership for the Long Haul

WITH JASON WATSON, PODCAST HOST

What does it take to bring the gospel where Christ is not yet known—and remain faithful for the long haul?

By YERNATHEN, A3 LEADER IN THE MENA REGION

We’ve been sharing the Gospel, and it’s been going great! The Lord has blessed our efforts so much that thousands have come to faith in a short time.

By Rod Denton, Equipping The Next Generation

The person who led John Stott to the Lord, wrote a letter to him each week for the first five years following his conversion. John Stott has been greatly used of God as a gifted world-wide Bible teacher for many years. Some people suggest that this person was more responsible for John Stott’s amazing ministry than any other human influence on his life.

CEO Joe Handley on what's coming up for A3 this year

Looking ahead to 2026, I am super thrilled with all that God has on the horizon for A3.

A3 Ministry Highlights from 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, I’ve found myself returning again and again to one word: MULTIPLICATION.

Reflections on A3 in the Philippines

by H.A. Moldez, A3 / Philippines 

Disciple-Making & Being Church Wherever Life Happens

A3/India alumnus Dr. Danny Sathyadass has a new book that I highly recommend.

When Pastor Meng looks back on his 23 years with A3, one word consistently rises to the surface: relationships. In a nation still marked by the scars of the Khmer Rouge era—when people were taught not to trust even their neighbors—relationships have become the lifeline of the church.

By Joseph W. Handley, Jr.

While serving with A3 and the Lausanne Movement, we found ourselves asking a crucial question: What will it take to disciple the nations?

Leadership 101: Cultivate a deep walk with God | Joe Handley

A3 president Joe Handley was asked what’s most important in leadership… See his thoughts here...

A Tribute to My Friend, Noel Becchetti

AN EARTH DAY ENTRY BY A3 MISSIONARY HILARY LYNCH

Those of us involved in ministry know well the challenge of having multiple pressing priorities: sharing our faith, connecting with our communities, discipling new believers, and raising leaders. The thought of adding “creation care” to the list may seem too daunting.

By Rod Denton, Equipping The Next Generation

You can know a person by the company they keep.

By Rod Denton, Equipping The Next Generation

The remarkable life of Jesus was brought home to me when I read these words,

“The life of Jesus was so unique, unpredictable, illogical and inconsistent that it would have been impossible for someone to make it up. It had to be true.”

North Africa (MNN) — The Body of Christ plays out on a regional and international scale in North Africa despite challenges.

An Update from Lasar Banargee in Bangladesh

We were training in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region last year and working with first-generation pastors and leaders. They were so encouraged by our faculty and mentors saying they had never experienced such rich, deep communal experiences like these.

North Africa (MNN) — Christian leaders in restricted nations are hungry for discipleship. Would you prayerfully consider investing in them?

#GIVINGTUESDAY 2023 PROJECT

Laboring Under Persecution

“For twenty years, the Church in our country labored under significant persecution. The benefit of this persecution, though, was that it brought us together in unity.”

LAUSANNE GLOBAL ANALYSIS • NOV 2023

BY THILINI DE VISSER & JOSEPH W. HANDLEY

A Crisis Sounds the Alarm

‘I’m sorry to bring bad news, Joe. Ron has suffered a stroke.’ Ron McMahon, chairman of A3 (formerly known as the Asian Access), was in his early sixties. While Ron survived the stroke, it clearly took much of his active life away.

Viewing A3 Alumni Survey Results

"This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
John 15:8 

Periodically we try to assess whether we are meeting the mark and being fruitful in our overall ministry thus we try various ways to discern how effective we are. Evaluation is crucial to see if we are on target.

BY EDMUND CHAN

We need a critical paradigm shift in missions today. It’s not a new paradigm. It’s simply a neglected one.

Get this. Missions is not the 'special call ' for a few ‘spiritual commandos’ in the church. Rather, missions is the redemptive purpose of God for EVERY believer. 

October 8-12, I was honored to be part of The Future of the Gospel Forum, led by the World Evangelical Alliance in Istanbul, Turkiye.

GIVING CHALLENGE PROJECT

Laboring Under Persecution

“For twenty years, the Church in our country labored under significant persecution. The benefit of this persecution, though, was that it brought us together in unity.”

WILL YOU JOIN US?

The last few weeks I traveled throughout the Muslim world. And, as this picture of the Hagia Sophia reminds, the call to prayer goes out 5 times per day. Every time I’m in that part of the world, I have vivid memories of living in Istanbul and traveling throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia as well as Bangladesh and Indonesia. I even heard the call to prayer while in India last week as well.

Japan (MNN) – A declining, aging population in Japan means both businesses and churches need guidance through the transition of leadership.

BY EDMUND CHAN

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:18-20 

By Rod Denton, Equipping The Next Generation

For twenty years Douglas Hyde was a member of the Communist Party in England before he renounced Communism and joined the Catholic Church. He then wrote a book called Dedication and Leadership to explain what Christians can learn from the Communist’s attitudes and methods.

It warmed my heart being with the A3 alumni in the Philippines recently.

“‘Creation care?’ Isn’t that just about planting trees and picking up litter? What’s that got to do with multiplying transformational Christian leaders and churches?”

“My dilemma is that I am still the head of the Mosque, but I can no longer stand the Muslim faith.”

That amazing statement was made by Imam Talib*, the head of a Mosque in a Middle Eastern country that we cannot name for security reasons. Your gift at this time will help develop Talib and many others to become effective leaders of the church in his country.

During the inaugural A3 training just conducted in North Africa two weeks ago, we were updated on two recent events—the closing of 20 churches by the government, and the conviction of three pastors for leading churches.

A3 online course offered by Biblical Training

Disciplemaking is not an everyday word. It may be mentioned at church, but even there it can feel foreign to our common experience. To be honest, the word “disciplemaking” is not in the Bible and my auto-correct continues to tell me it’s not a word in any standard dictionary.

Happy New Year, Dear Friends!

This post is a little later than I had hoped because our family was hit with the coronavirus variant over the holidays. We are deeply grateful for your prayers and appreciate you for the way we journey together in life and mission.

What's Missing?

"Joe, we have tons of leadership training in this region but what is missing is relationship. There are wonderful groups serving our region offering all sorts of material, ideas, tips and techniques. Many of those are good but what is lacking is a deep commitment to journey together. If A3 can walk with us, together hand-in-hand, it would be a tremendous encouragement."

There is much to suggest that the church in the west is living in a post-Christian generation. Evangelism has fallen on hard times, and ironically it seems that seminars to help people learn how to share their faith are doing no better.  And yet our denominations, although aware of their continued decrease in numbers, seem largely unmotivated to address the real issue. If ever there was a time to get back to basics, then surely it is now and I would like to suggest that the following 10 keys will give you a platform on which to build a fruitful church that will reach lost people. These 10 keys will help you to take evangelism in your church from being an optional extra to an important priority...

One of the wisest persons in the Bible wrote the following words that have served me well in my life of ministry:

“The righteous choose their friends carefully, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
— Proverbs 12:26

So important was this principle for his readers to take to heart, that he repeated it in varying ways through the book of Proverbs. “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20...

A more biblical understanding of discipleship is critical to disciple a nation. Planting a church as a signpost of the Kingdom of God to evangelize a community is a good start. However, in a success-driven ministry, many pastors and leaders are simply dreaming of making their churches grow big and bigger. When the world’s criteria for success drives the ministry, discipleship is hurried up without the spiritual depth necessary to impact society. The World Evangelical Alliance’s call to a "Decade of Discipleship" needs radical calibration to grow...

The person who modelled to me the key to growing. The first principle of mentoring is “the attraction of the mentor to the mentee.” I was first attracted to Doctor Robert (Bob) Boyd Munger when I was a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California where Bob served in the esteemed position of Chaplain to the Faculty. Prior to that, he was the professor of Evangelism and Church Renewal. In addition, Bob taught an adult Bible study class at nearby Lake Avenue Congregational Church where, with my family, I attended church. We joined this weekly Bible study class on a Sunday morning prior to attending one of the various church worship services. Bob was the author of the book My Heart – Christ’s Home which he first preached as a sermon in 1954...{addthis off}

There is no greater Return on Investment than discipleship and investing in other people.
– Mike Duke (former CEO of Walmart) 

A few weeks ago, Asian Access had a wonderful gathering in Tokyo with marketplace leaders. Edwin Keh, former Senior Vice President at Walmart and Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania joined us utilizing a 4-hour video interview he conducted with Mike Duke, quoted above. They taught on discipleship as an opening topic for the orientation and launch of Asian Access/Business (known as A2.business) for Japan. As Mike’s quote suggests, far more than his investment in...{addthis off}

Asian Access is honored to have one of our very own, Takeshi Takazawa, contribute to a significant new work about leadership called Missing Voices: Learning to Lead Beyond Our Horizons. I received a pre-released copy of the first chapter where Takeshi offers several important insights from an East Asian perspective about leadership. Having read this chapter alone, I’m eager to get a copy of this book as soon as possible! To give you a bit of a teaser on some of what Takeshi offers...{addthis off}

Not long ago, one of our national directors was sharing about visiting a leading pastor in his nation. He was visiting to see if they could work together toward human rights in the nation. They are a country whose Christian population is constantly scrutinized and often persecuted for their faith. He went not knowing what this well-known pastor might say. In fact, he wasn’t even sure he’d be willing to help because often churches like this one, led by this pastor can become insular focused exclusively on their own congregation. However, this day, the famous pastor said to the Asian Access country director,...{addthis off}

Recently, I was able to interview Terry Looper about his new book SacredPace being released today on February 26. It’s a book laying out several great principles that align with our core focus at Asian Access. I know you’ll enjoy the book. You can learn more about it here: Sacred Pace. Here are a couple clips from our interview that I want to share with you. Terry talks about his relationship with God highlighting some of the themes from the book. It’s a terrific reflection on Asian Access first outcome, Living in a Love Relationship with God. Enjoy! I hope it inspires your walk with Jesus... {addthis off}

Ideree the Bird Man is more famous worldwide for his bird photography than for his pastoring a church or working with the leadership team of A3...  

The Forbes.com’s number 1 Business Book of 2016 was, KEEP IT SIMPLE: Unclutter Your Mind to Uncomplicate Your Life written by Joe Calloway. The book challenges us to resist the temptation to overcomplicate things and to boil things down to the essence of what matters most. It confronts our natural almost unnoticed tendency to drift towards complexity or away from the purpose for which we exist. It takes some continued resolve to keep it simple and focused. Calloway’s advice is to boil things down to three simple rules, like the large national trucking company that reduced things to three simple rules:

1. Pick it up when you said you would.
2. Deliver it when...

Not long ago I met this pastor in one of our Asian Access cohorts. His name, face and country are hidden to protect him, his family, church and the work of God in his community. What a story though! As he was sharing, I learned that he was formerly a Hindu Priest. He came to the capital of his country to seek a better life because he was on the brink of disaster—close to suicide because his life was so bad. Along the way...

During graduation week in Myanmar, one of the participants burst out in appreciation for A3....

Discipling Is For Everyone

Using the Father-Son metaphor found in Scripture, here are a few brief, but poignant quotes from Dr. Ajith Fernando's challenging message:

• "The most important thing we do in discipling our people is to pray for them."
• "The balanced life is our cross. So where is the time for discipling? Well, we find time for what is important."
• "Discipling is a battle for the souls of people. That's a battle we wage. We do this through prayer, through confrontation, through teaching, through meeting, and...

When I joined Asian Access just over 9 years ago, one of the motivating factors was their focus and success in reaching the unreached people groups of the world. That’s why I so enjoyed spending time with a colleague in one of our sessions recently in a country that must remain unnamed due to security concerns. My colleague wrote this follow up report that so encouraged me. I trust it’ll encourage you as well:

“One of the most exciting things for me about the pastors in these two classes is the dedication that they show toward...

A few weeks ago, I was in a SE Asian country teaching as part of our two-year cohort. It was such a joy spending time with the pastors and seeing how eager they were to learn. One pastor, whom I’ll call NV to protect his identity, quickly came up to me sharing that he had already taken what he learned in the first session a few months prior and was sharing it in several contexts. Here’s what he later shared with me:

“All the lessons of the first session were really significant to me and others whom I reproduced it. My purpose is to contribute for the revival at the very heart of the capital city, so, since 2008, I have 2 trips each year on May and October for pastoral training for all pastors and church workers for churches of 8 denominations, including the government sanctioned church in three large cities (they came from many cities at N region). Last May I trained SHAPE and TIMELINE for over 120 pastors and main workers. They all said that it was so good and they will continue to retrain at their local churches. I plan to retrain the session "the heart of the ministry" next Oct.”